Militant Religion and the Crisis of Modernity: A New Paradigm

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the war on terror and the invasion of Iraq have lifted a veil that was obscuring vital aspects of the global situation. These tragic events have highlighted profound processes of change that are unfolding within global history. Hundreds of millions of peo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bendle, Mervyn F. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2003
In: Research in the social scientific study of religion
Year: 2003, Volume: 14, Pages: 229-251
Further subjects:B Social sciences
B Religion & Gesellschaft
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Summary:The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the war on terror and the invasion of Iraq have lifted a veil that was obscuring vital aspects of the global situation. These tragic events have highlighted profound processes of change that are unfolding within global history. Hundreds of millions of people are feeling excluded and alienated from the world system. Large numbers are prepared to engage in militant religious activism, especially as they seek a viable identity that links them simultaneously with the core values of their traditional civilizations, and the imperatives of globalization and modernity with which they are increasingly engaged. This paper introduces a new paradigm that explores this situation, and particularly the links between globalization and the subjective religious tendencies that find expression in outbursts of militant activity. As a case study it focusses on Islamism as a radical political ideology reasserting and valorizing a traditional identity based on civilizational values that cut completely across those of an unobtainable and increasingly reviled globalized modernity.
Contains:Enthalten in: Research in the social scientific study of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/9789004496576_015